Romney: Obama voters deadbeats, want handouts

Mitt Romney disparages Obama voters and says he’ll “never convince them” to take responsibility for their lives, in a video leaked from a Romney fundraiser revealed Monday by Mother Jones magazine.

The Republican presidential candidate, often careful with his words, lets fly at those who are voting for his opponent. Says Romney:

“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the President no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name it.

“That, that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for the President no matter what. These are people who pay no income taxes.”

Romney goes on to say:

“(M)y job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

The video is reminiscent of — but more sweeping and potentially damaging than — remarks by then-candidate Barack Obama at a 2008 San Francisco fundraiser. He talked about blue collar blues in Pennsylvania and workers who “get bitter, they cling to guns or religion.”

Mother Jones did not disclose the date or location of Romney’s remarks. The leaker later told Huffington Post that he withheld this information from Mother Jones so there could be no tracing.

Jim Messina, Obama’s campaign manager, reacted by saying:

“It’s shocking that a candidate for President of the United States would go behind closed doors and declare to a group of wealthy donors that half the American people view themselves as ‘victims’ entitled to handouts and are unwilling to take ‘personal responsibility’ for their lives.”

The Romney campaign did not bother to deny the candidate’s remarks, but tried to deflect their meaning. “Mitt Romney wants to help all Americans struggling in the Obama economy,” spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said in a statement.

“As the governor has made clear all year, he is concerned about the growing number of people who are dependent on the federal government.”